All of us love to see before-and-after photographs. In an article about face lifts, hairdos or weight loss, I love looking back and forth at the two pictures, studying the improvements. Genuine change is encouraging, because all of us see things in ourselves we don’t like. Something about the after-shots inspires hope.

I find it fascinating that even the “beautiful people,” movie stars and models, often expound on their physical flaws, things the rest of us don’t see. Apparently none of us are exempt from wanting to make positive changes.

And that’s just on the outside.

What about the inside? My guess is most of us have flaw-lists far longer for internal stuff than external, all of it without an easy fix. Not being able to visualize our inner changes is one of the reasons it’s so difficult to make them. We can’t take before and after pictures and can’t see how we’re doing.

Yet deep down, with all the negatives that need improving, something positive pushes us to keep trying to do better. For example, we determine we’ll never stretch the truth again or waste any more time. We promise to keep confidences. We resolve to put others ahead of ourselves.

But in working on this kind of inner makeover, failure often comes sooner rather than later. The older we get, the more we realize that bootstrap efforts will never get the job done. We’re tempted to throw up our hands, accept defeat and say, “I can’t improve; that’s just how I am.”

There is a successful route to a good-looking internal makeover, however, and it starts with admitting we need outside help to make the inside stuff happen. Thankfully, God is standing by with an open-ended offer to assist. Even if every other effort has failed, partnering with him will bring success.

In the Bible, a first-rate internal makeover is called “bearing fruit.” In other words, if we sync our inner want-to’s with God’s want-to’s for us, something good will be produced. That goes for our own lives and the lives of those around us. It’s a good deal all the way around, although we can’t miss the “if”.

“If” we sync with what God wants…

And it’s important to know what that is. I’m learning even in widowhood, as I work through one of life’s big disappointments, that leaning into God makes good things happen inside of me. Life-fruit gets produced. I’m experiencing it, and anyone who partners with the Lord can experience it, too.

Though I can’t show before and after pictures, I can confirm there have been positive changes, because I know where I was before, and I’m on my way into God’s after.

And unlike before and after photographs, God’s version of the after keeps changing and improving, which is why before and after pictures could never tell the story anyway.

Jesus said, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. I am the true vine.” (John 15:4,1)